Where did the Human Rights Act Start?

Though the Human Rights Act is itself new, its roots go back to the Second World War. After the war, a document called the European Convention on Human Rights was written, setting out important basic human rights. The Human Rights Act now makes the Convention part of British law. The original rights are set out in separate 'articles'. Since the Convention was written, new 'protocols' have been added. Most of these protocols deal with procedure, but some of them add new rights to the Convention.

If you think that your rights under the Convention have been broken,you can take a case to the European Court of Human Rights based in Strasbourg. Previously, the Court has decided that Britain has broken the Convention and this has led to important changes in the law in this country. People have argued for a long time that the Convention would be much more effective if it was part of British law and we could rely on our rights in the British courts. The Human Rights Act makes this possible.

.: How does the Human Rights Act work?

Not all the rights in the Convention and its protocols have become part of British law. The ones that have are called the Convention rights. Some of the rights that have been left out may be added later. The Convention rights are very broad, and the Act affects many areas of the law. The way they are interpreted will develop over time. The courts in the UK have to look at existing laws and see how they fit in with the Convention rights. If they don't fit with Convention rights, the laws should be made to fit where possible.

Public authorities, such as the police, local councils and the Benefits Agency have to follow the Act. Some organizations are public authorities at some times, but not others. For example, a security company is a public authority when it is working for the prison service, but not when it is doing private security work. Sometimes the rights of different people clash, and the courts will have to find a balance between these rights.

For example, an animal rights protester may use the rights to freedom of expression (Article 10) and freedom of assembly (Article 11) to argue that they should be allowed to protest outside the house of a scientist who does animal experiments. The scientist may use the right to respect for their home (Article 8) to try to stop the protest.